LoPresti First Saturday

LoPresti’s First Saturday event on Saturday, Sept. 4, at Sebastian Municipal Airport (X26) in Florida will host Richard Snook of Missionary Flights International, an “airline for missions” in Haiti and the Dominican Republic

September’s charity breakfast event begins at 9 am. with coffee and full breakfast. The presentation will follow from 10-11:30 a.m. Charity donation $8. Missionary Flights International’s DC-3 will be at the airport. “This is great opportunity to see up close how this legionary aircraft is used to carry food, work teams, supplies and hope to our Caribbean neighbors in need,” LoPresti officials said.

Snook is the President and CEO of Missionary Flights International. He served in the USAF and was trained in aircraft maintenance. During the Vietnam war, he served as a mechanic on the EC-47, the military version of the DC-3. After the war, he earned all of his pilot ratings. Little did he realize that 20 years later, he would be a captain on the same type of aircraft he maintained in Vietnam.

Missionary Flights International is not an airline in the typical sense of the term. They are neither a public nor commercial carrier. They do, however, strive to offer affiliated missions the kind of efficient service and professionalism expected of an airline operation. In meeting this technical need of missions, MFI has become an “airline for missions” in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.